Diapers have been used to contain the waste of infants, toddlers, and in some cases, other individuals who do not have control of their bladders and/or bowel movements. Diapers can be made of a reusable fiber, such as cotton, and/or they can be made of disposable materials, such as plastic and cotton.
Disposable diapers can be made of a combination of plastics and soft fiber materials, such as cotton. The plastic can, for example, provide waterproof characteristics to prevent leakage through the soft fiber material portion. The soft fiber material portion can provide absorption for the waste of the wearer.
Disposable diapers have been readily available in most developed countries and can be desirable because the diaper can be disposed of in the trash without having to handle or dispose of the waste in the diaper separately. A disposable diaper can be disposed of after each time a diaper is soiled, no matter the quantity and type of waste. Thus the number of diapers used, and therefore, the cost of buying disposable diapers is not dependent on the quantity of type of waste that soils a diaper.
However, disposable diapers can be undesirable, for example, because the chemicals used to make the diapers can be harmful to the wearer. Also, disposable diapers can create strain on the environment because a diaper is disposed of in the trash each time a wearer creates waste while wearing a disposable diaper and these types of diapers are not typically readily degradable.
In contrast, reusable diapers can be desirable because of the reduced harmful environmental impact over disposable diapers, the ability to choose chemical-free materials, and the reduced overall cost due to the fixed cost of buying fewer diapers and reusing them. However, the initial cost of a reusable diaper system can, in many instances, have a larger initial investment when compared to disposable systems. Balancing the desirable and undesirable characteristics of the reusable and disposable diapers can be difficult. The conveniences of disposable diapers make them very popular, as evidenced by the 40 million diapers that are disposed of in the United States every day. Many disposable diaper users would like to use reusable diapers, but do not because of the conveniences of using disposable diapers and the difficulties, such as the expense and inconvenience, of using both disposable and reusable diapers.